Box Score
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Western Michigan fell to Michigan State at Old College Field, 5-4, on Wednesday afternoon. This despite multi-hit days from Mandi Sayres, Lexi Jager and Amanda McBride, as well as Brittney Reist's fourth home run of the season. WMU has now eclipsed its home run total from a year ago and has hit the third most in a season in program history.
Jager and Sayres each went 2-for-4 against the Spartans, bringing their season total to five multi-hit games so far this season. McBride was 2-for-3 at the plate. She and Sayres currently have three-game hit streaks.
Western Michigan (11-9) and Michigan State (20-15) entered the top of the seventh inning knotted at four runs apiece. Meghan Thomas recorded a one-out base hit but was stranded at first base. Conversely, the Spartans' lead-off batter reached in the bottom half of the inning, was sacrificed over to second on a bunt and scored one batter later on a single back up the middle to claim a one-run victory.
The Broncos put the first crooked number on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning on Jager's first collegiate triple, which scored Sayres, who led off the game with a double to right center field. Jager later scored on a wild pitch to give WMU a 2-0 lead in its first offensive half inning.
MSU answered with a run in the bottom of the first but Molly Mroczek put the Broncos back in business in the top of the second with a double. After advancing to third on a second wild pitch, McBride brought Mroczek home when she recorded her first of two hits, a single to center field.
The Spartans scored an unearned run in the bottom half of the frame to cut the Broncos' lead to one run, 3-2 after two innings. Both teams were quiet offensively in the third but Reist led off the fourth in a big way, smashing her team-leading fourth home run over the left center field wall on a 1-0 pitch.
Western Michigan stranded two base runners in the fifth inning and ran itself out of the sixth when McBride was caught on a steal attempt, leading to the seventh where MSU capitalized on a lead-off single for its 20th win of the 2008 season.
WMU's 3-4-5-6 hitters have a .299 combined batting average and the Broncos' lead-off threat, Sayres, is second on the team with a .345 average. She leads the team with 20 hits, 13 runs scored and five doubles. Thirty percent of WMU's 123 hits have been for extra bases (18 doubles, 17 home runs, two triples), which bodes well for the Broncos as they continue their Mid-American Conference season this Friday against a powerful Kent State team. The doubleheader is scheduled for a 1 p.m., first pitch.
